1. Introduction to the FP7 project BERST (BioEconomy ... posters...1. Introduction to the FP7...

1. Introduction to the FP7 project BERST (BioEconomy Regional Strategy Toolkit)

Author: Myrna van Leeuwen, coordinator BERST team

Background

Current EU development strategies, such as the Europa 2020 strategy,

the Bioeconomy Strategy for Europe and the Research and Innovation

Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) include many incentives for

regions to develop a bioeconomy cluster.

Aim of the project (www.BERST.eu)

BERST approach of the analysis of bioeconomy clusters Basic assumptions in BERST

BERST aims to explore the bioeconomy potential of EU regions by focussing on the following questions:

• What is the current bioeconomy potential of EU regions?

• What is the future bioeconomy potential of EU regions?

• How to close the gap between current and future bioeconomy potential of EU regions?

• How to develop smart strategies for regional bioeconomies in the EU?

• Actors pursue a strategy to develop the bioeconomy by

transforming biomass into competitive bioeconomy products;

• Regional bioeconomy activities usually take place in the context of

a bioeconomy cluster, which originates from the cooperation of

regional actors;

• In the bioeconomy cluster firms are tied to other firms through:

• formal linkages, i.e. the input-output linkages; and

• untraded interdependencies, like norms, trust and a strong local

network of private and public institutions.

Name: LEI Wageningen UR P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS The Hague Contact: [email protected] T + 31 (0)70 33 58 141 www.wageningenUR.nl

Funded by The European Union under the 7th Research Framework Grant agreement no. 613671 Project duration: December 2013-November 2015

The BERST team

No

Research partners Regional partners

1 Wageningen UR (coordinator)

BioCampus Straubing GmbH

2

Cambridge Econometrics Limited

Biobased Delta

3

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Asociación Madrid Plataforma de la Biotecnología

4

Flemish Institute for Technological Research

Fundación Parque Científio de Madrid

5 Centre for Research and Technology Hellas

Region of Western Macedonia

6 University of Ljubljana

Municipality of Westland, Zuid- Holland 7

JAMK University of Allied Sciences Keski –Suomen litto

8

Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.

Formal linkages among economic sectors in the

bioeconomy in BERST

New biobased economic

sectors:

• Chemical sector

• Energy sector

• Paper & pulp sector

• Textiles sector

http://www.berst.eu/

2. Exploring the development path of bioeconomy clusters (WP3)

Authors: Calliope Panoutsou, Gareth Brown and Ida Terluin

Objectives

• To explore the development path of the bioeconomy cluster in Good

Practice regions;

• To identify enabling factors and lessons for the bioeconomy cluster

from the Good Practices;

• To explore the development path of the bioeconomy cluster in

BERST regions and to identify barriers.

Methodological approach

Results (www.BERST.eu)

Barriers in developing bioeconomy clusters in the BERST

regions

In the analysis of the development path of a bioeconomy cluster, we

assume that the actors of the region, in which the cluster is located,

apply a strategy to develop the bioeconomy by transforming biomass

into competitive bioeconomy products. Such a transformation process

takes time. Hence, our analysis is guided by two starting points:

(a) a focus on five key assets of a bioeconomy cluster (Fig. 1);

(b) a long run time horizon of a bioeconomy cluster, in which we

distinguish three phases (Fig. 2).

By means of case study analysis in regions with a well-developed

bioeconomy cluster (the so-called Good Practices) and regions with a

less mature bioeconomy cluster (the so-called BERST regions) we

identified a number of enabling factors and barriers for the

development of bioeconomy clusters (Table 1).

LEI Wageningen UR P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS The Hague Contact: [email protected] T + 31 ())70 33 58 348 www.wageningenUR.nl


Key findings from the Good Practices

From the analysis of the development path of the bioeconomy clusters

in the Good Practices, a number of key findings emerged that can be

considered as enabling factors for bioeconomy clusters:

• active actors organize the cluster as a bottom-up process and keep

it moving by intensive networking;

• the presence of a cluster board that takes care of the organization of

the cluster and communication;

• the cluster makes use of the strong points of the region;

• the cluster starts with activities in one economic sector;

• first, the cluster is mainly supported by public funds; later private

funds become also available;

• biomass resources may originate from both local and external

supply.

The BERST regions show a wide variety of cluster experiences, varying

from the bioeconomy cluster in Central Finland that could be

considered as a Good Practice to the collapse of the bioeconomy cluster

PoliMat in Slovenia. Barriers faced in the bioeconomy clusters in the

BERST regions include:

• lack of active participation of entrepreneurs in the cluster;

• lack of an innovation culture among entrepreneurs;

• lack of cooperation and trust among firms and R&D institutes;

• bioeconomy clusters that are set up as a politically-led top-down

initiative in an environment of entrepreneurs and R&D institutes

which are not convinced of its usefulness and who show a low sense

of ownership of the cluster;

• difficulties in biomass supply, such as varying quality, fluctuations in

the supply, the collection of the supply from a large number of

suppliers, and competition with other users of biomass resources.

Imperial College London, Centre for Environmental Policy

13-15 Prince’s Gardens; SW7 1NA, London

Contact: [email protected]

T + 44 (0) 755 734 1846

www.imperial.ac.uk

Figure 1 Conceptual model for the analysis of the strategy of a bioeconomy cluster

Figure 2 The development path of a bioeconomy cluster

Table 1 Overview of studied bioeconomy clusters

Good Practices in BERST BERST regions

Ghent (Belgium) Central Finland (Finland)

North Rhine Westfalia (Germany) Straubing (Germany)

Toulouse (France) Biobase Westland (Netherlands)

Manchester (UK) Biobased Delta (Netherlands)

Madrid region (Spain) Western Macedonia (Greece) Slovenia


• Identification of key criteria for development of regional bioeconomy

across eight subsectors;

• Design of a framework for analysis; particularly, posing questions

about policy; where has it successfully been used to reinforce

strengths or address weaknesses, and where can it be applied?

• BUT Readiness charts do not present a ‘definitive answer’.

4. Identifying criteria and indicators describing the regional bioeconomy (WP1)

Authors: Jon Stenning and Ben Gardiner

Objectives

• To identify the factors that contribute to the development of bioeconomy within a region;

• To build a data-based framework for assessing the bioeconomy potential and performance.


Key outcomes

Results

Figure 3. Bioeconomy readiness for Central Finland in 2013 compared to Finland

Issues encountered

• Based on a review of existing literature and the views of regional

and research partners, we have identified a list of criteria important

for the development of regional bioeconomy;

• For capturing the state of these criteria, we have identified and

collected quantitative indicators, specific to each subsector of the

bioeconomy;

• By using these indicators we have constructed an ‘at a glance’

analysis of the state of the criteria in a given region and subsector.

Figure 4. Bioeconomy readiness for Straubing in 2013 compared to Germany

Table 1. The key subsectors of bioeconomy

Bioeconomy structure

We identified 8 key subsectors of the bioeconomy; relevant criteria for

each sector were then identified and used as the basis for the charts.

Structure of regional bioeconomy

Readiness assessments use available data to provide an overview of

the strength of a region for developing certain types of bioeconomy.

They measure performance across a number of relevant indicators,

with performance scored relative to the national average.


Results

Bioeconomy sector Example region

1 Primary biomass sectors Biobase Westland

2 Food & feed processing Straubing

3 Construction Biobased Delta

4 Chemical and polymers, biorefinery &

co-digesting

North Rhine Westfalia

5 Pulp & paper Central Finland

6 Textiles & clothing Ghent

7 Energy Central Finland

8 Biotechnology Toulouse

Figure 1. Employment structure in Central Finland in 2013 compared to Finland

Figure 2. Firm structure in Straubing in 2013 compared to Germany

Results (online http://berst.databank.nl)

Figure 5. Bioeconomy readiness for Western Macedonia in 2013 compared to Greece

Figure 6. Bioeconomy readiness for Madrid 2013 compared to Spain

Secondary & tertiary education

Employment and firm structure of regional bioeconomy

Evaluate the current industry mix through shares of total employment

compared to national average. This will tell us what proportion of all

jobs are in a certain bioeconomy subsector and how this differs from

the national employment structure: ‘what is the region’s

specialisation’?

Research citing index Forestry

Agriculture & horticulture

Logistics index

Infrastructure

Land use


Biomass availability

Blue

Forestry

Waste

Innovation

SME birth rate

R&D expenditure R&D

Employment structure

Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy firms

Cluster size

Demogrpahics

Population growth

Population 15-65 yrs

Income/capita Quality of workforce




Logistics index

Infrastructure

Land use


Biomass availability Blue

Forestry

Waste

Innovation

SME birth rate

R&D expenditure


Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy firms

Cluster size

Demogrpahics

Population growth






Logistics index

Infrastructure

Land use



Blue

Forestry

Waste

Innovation

SME birth rate

R&D expenditure


Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy firms

Cluster size

Demogrpahics

Population growth






Logistics index

Infrastructure

Land use



Blue

Forestry

Waste

Innovation

SME birth rate

R&D expenditure


Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy firms

Cluster size

Demogrpahics

Population growth



R&D

R&D R&D

BIOECONOMY READINESS BIOECONOMY READINESS

BIOECONOMY READINESS BIOECONOMY READINESS

• Data availability and collection was the most substantial challenge:

not all data that we would like to use actually exists, and relatively

little exists on a comparable basis across EU regions and EU Member

States;

• We identified the best available indicators for capturing the

important criteria for development, but in some cases these

indicators failed to truly measure the underlying criteria; as a result

some poor scores don’t reflect the reality on the ground in the

region.

Name: Cambridge Econometrics

Reuben House, Covent Garden, Cambridge


T + 44 (0)1223 533130

www.camecon.com

http://berst.databank.nl/



3. A Catalogue of Instruments & Measures to encourage regional bioeconomy development (WP2) Author: Ruben GUISSON (VITO)

Objective

• To provide an On-line Catalogue allowing stakeholders to search in a

targeted way for Instruments & Measures enabling regional

bioeconomy development;

• To support stakeholders to develop their own strategies & business

plans, and to learn from and get inspired by other regions.


Figure 1. Example of General Search filter settings

• The Catalogue structure and data content was defined by VITO in

close collaboration with the regional partners and with focus on data

usefulness and user-friendly data-mining;

• The populating of the Catalogue with Instruments & Measures was

performed by i) regional partners, ii) external stakeholders, iii) VITO

& consortium partners;

• Validation and quality check was performed by VITO. Figure 2. List of Instruments & Measures with key information fields as a result of selected

search settings

The Catalogue and its functionalities

The on-line Catalogue (https://berst.vito.be/) provides the following

functionalities:

• a general search by a comprehensive set of information fields – e.g. region, type of measure, sector or topic, feed stock type, ...;

• a search by objectives of measures relevant for the deployment of a

regional bioeconomy – e.g. enabling financial resources, ensuring biomass availability,...;

• a search by Case Studies/Good Practices providing a dashboard overview of exemplary regions – e.g. Biobase Westland, Ghent Bioeconomy Valley, Central

Finland,... .

The Catalogue and its outcomes

Based on the selected search settings a list of relevant Instruments &

Measures is returned providing key information fields.

Name: VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research


T + 32 (0)14 33 58 49

https://berst.vito.be


Results For each listed Instrument & Measure a comprehensive factsheet with

detailed information is consultable. Information tags are ‘clickable’

allowing to further mine the data in a targeted manner.

Figure 3. Factsheet of Instrument & Measures

The Catalogue as an open community

To complete the Catalogue as much as possible an open community

strategy was chosen. After a simple log-in you can freely add

Instruments & Measures from your own region/country. After a quality

check these will be published in the Catalogue.

The (current) Catalogue content in brief

Currently the Catalogue contains close to 1.000 Instruments &

Measures on EU, national and regional level, 300 are dedicated to the

regional level, 100 different regions are represented.

Results

https://berst.vito.be/

https://berst.vito.be/

5. Network of BioRegions (WP5)

Authors: Remco Kranendonk and Ingrid Coninx

Approach and Objective

In BERST, a network of BioRegions is developed by the method of Community of Practice. A Community of Practice (CoP) brings together

practitioners, policymakers, companies, cluster managers and researchers to jointly explore and share experiences on the development of

regional bioeconomies in Europe. The objective is to increase the mutual understanding of how actors interact with each other in bioeconomy

regions and to jointly build a toolkit by finding alignments with EU regions, Member States, EU policies, institutions and networks.

Network development activities (www.BERST.eu)

Results

Field visits

Stories and lessons

learned from regions

Reflections from academia Brainstorm on toolkit

Exploring for strategic partnerships

Sharing and testing tools by webinars

In many regions, RIS3 strategic choices are made prior to the

BERST project. The BERST tools and information on bioeconomy

criteria and comparative advantages can be used to continue the

RIS3 process and to strengthen and improve the regional dialogue

on the strategic choices;

Outreach of the testing and use of BERST tools in other bioregions;

Stay connected to EU institutions and platforms (ERRIN, BBI, CoR,

Scar, JRC, Observatory, Stakeholder Conferences, etc.);

Ongoing aspirations for interregional partnerships, for benchmarks,

exchange, collaboration, connection of the value chain, strategic

positioning.

• science – regions interaction and co-creation;

• network of almost 200 members;

• BERST is on the EU agenda;

• partnerships with ERRIN;

• alignment with EU institutions;

• connected to EU discussions and challenges.

Name: Wageningen UR Alterra


T + 31 (0)317 48 19 38

www.wageningenUR.nl


Current challenges of the Bioregions Network

for future bioeconomy development

alignment with the Committee of the Regions – Natural

Resources Working Group - Meeting Firenze;

alignment with other Bioeconomy Regions: Sachsen Anhalt,

Gelderland, South Finland, Lubelski, Dutch network of

Bioregions;

taking part in the EU discussion on Bioeconomy: TOBE

Bioeconomy Stakeholder meeting Torino, ERRIN biobased

working group events, Scar Working Group, Open Days;

exchange with Committee of the Regions, European

Parliament, Bioeconomy Observatory, JRC, Platform S3.

Alignment activities


6. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Keski-Suomi (Finland)

Authors: Hannu Koponen, Hilkka Laine, Anneli Ylimartimo and Laura Vertainen

Current state of the bioeconomy cluster

Start and aim

The bioeconomy cluster in Keski-Suomi started in 1992 as a cooperation of R&D institutes, the Regional Council of Central Finland and entrepreneurs. The cluster aims at valorizing the forest biomass resources, especially in the bioenergy sector. Recently the focus has changed towards industrial symbiosis, in particular with the pulp and paper industry.

Cluster Board

The cluster board, comprising R&D institutes, entrepreneurs and policymakers, provided focus and steered developments in the cluster. This resulted in good interactions and successful collaboration among the cluster actors.

Entrepreneurial climate

Entrepreneurs showed a high willingness to develop the bioeconomy and to pool resources towards new product development, amongst others by converting industrial waste from the primary processing of biomass resources into marketable products. By doing so, crossovers took place.

Funding

The cluster is financed by public funding linked to national policy to create and maintain jobs in rural areas and to national and EU R&D and bioeconomy policies. Private funding became available from the drive to maturity stage.

Recommendations for further development of the

bioeconomy cluster

Barriers for the development of the bioeconomy cluster


• a low rate of start-ups in forest fuel production due to the small scale firm structure;

• the fragmented nature of the bioeconomy sectors hampers cross-overs;

• the perspective of the biocluster is rather national, and international cooperation at SME level is at a moderate level;

• road infrastructure shows some inadequacies, which hampers the transport of biomass resources.

• ensure that the role of the cluster coordinator is sustained and reinforced to keep momentum of the cluster;

• enrich service orientation towards the companies in the cluster;

• design and reinforce educational programs to raise interest for bioeconomy activities among students;

• perform gap analysis on skills from an industrial perspective and work together to integrate courses and human resources to the particular sectors of interest;

• improve the role of an incubator in the bioeconomy cluster;

• place effort and funds towards reinforcing the road and rail infrastructure for supply of biomass resources;

• improve the resource efficient exploitation of wood industry raw material side streams and the integration of waste in the bioeconomy value chains;

• strengthen the international contacts of the cluster.

JAMK University of Applied Sciences Rajakatu 35, FI 40200 Jyväskylä, Finland Contact: [email protected] www.jamk.fi


Regional Council of Central Finland,

Cygnaueksenkatu 1, FI 40100 Jyväskylä, FINLAND.


www.keskisuomi.fi

Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Keski-Suomi compared to Finland

Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Keski-Suomi compared to Finland

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jamk.fi/

7. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Straubing (Germany)

Authors: Ann-Kathrin Kaufmann and Senta Schmatzberger


Start and aim

The Straubing-based cluster “Renewable Raw Materials” was initiated in 2009 as a politically-led top-down initiative. The cluster is managed by the BioCampus Straubing GmbH, which closely works together with the state-run Competence Centre for Renewable Raw Materials in Straubing. As a flagship activity, a lignocellulosic ethanol demoplant has been built on the BioCampus in the Straubing port area in 2012 by Clariant. The cluster is located in an agriculture and forestry-rich region and there is a direct inland waterway access via the Danube port. The cluster aims to transform biomass resources into competitive biobased products in the energy and chemical sectors.

Cluster Board

The BioCampus Straubing GmbH, that has the role of cluster management, is mainly oriented at research and education, technology transfer, site development and marketing. It does currently not provide support for fund raising to the cluster members.


The Straubing cluster currently has approximately 100 members with the majority being from the private sector. However, entrepreneurs do not actively participate in the cluster, as appreciation of offered cluster services is missing.

Funding

The cluster lacks financial stability: until now it only received temporary and limited project funding from EU, national, regional and local funds.


bioeconomy cluster



• lack of active participation of entrepreneurs in the cluster as they insufficiently appreciate the cluster due to its top-down character;

• R&D actors are not always able to translate research results into business applications;

• comparatively high prices for biomass resources for bioeconomy purposes due to competition with other users of biomass resources

• farmers lack an incentive to sell their biomass resources to bioeconomy firms;

• lack of shared innovation culture among entrepreneurs;

• low prices for fossil fuels hamper the commercial drive to develop and market biofuels;

• lack of support to the cluster members by the cluster board in getting access to funding;

• lack of consistent, reliable funding for the cluster management;

• the perspective of the biocluster is rather regional and mainly neglects national and international cooperation.

• strengthen the entrepreneurial climate by improving the capacity of the entrepreneurs;

• improve the translation of research results into business applications;

• solve bottlenecks in the supply of biomass resources as much as possible;

• improve access to public funding, including support in completing applications and funding for start-ups;

• focus on national and international cooperation as well.

Clariant sunliquid© demoplant Biomass handling at Straubing’s Green Cemistry Belt

BioCampus Straubing GmbH

Europaring 4

D-94315 Straubing

Contact:

[email protected]

T + 49 (0)94215 785 161

www.straubing-sand.de/biocampus

Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.

OT Gültzow

Hofplatz 1

D-18276 Gülzow-Prüzen


T +49 3843 6930-0 T + 49 (0)3843 6930 0

www.fnr.de

Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Straubing region compared to Germany

Figure 2 Firm structure (%) in Straubing region compared to Germany

mailto:[email protected]

8. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Bio Base Westland (the Netherlands)

Author: Judith Zuiderwijk


Start and aim

The Westland region is a main centre of greenhouse horticulture. The municipality of Westland took the initiative to start a bioeconomy cluster in 2013 with the intention to use residue materials from greenhouse horticulture and to grow new crops with valuable ingredients. At the moment, the municipality is exploring the perspectives of a wide range of biobased products with high value added.

Cluster Board

The municipality chairs the steering committee of Bio Base Westland.


Bio Base Westland works with a small group of entrepreneurs who are willing to develop and market bioeconomy products based on new crops or horticultural waste. One of the projects of Bio Base Westland is bringing together a group of actors, who developed and produced cardboard boxes from tomato stems.

Funding

Financing originates from regional, national and EU public funds.


bioeconomy cluster


Structure of the regional bioeconomy

• The bioeconomy cluster is mainly set up as a top-down initiative in an environment of entrepreneurs of which only a small group is active in the biobased economy;

• The potential of horticultural crops as input for competitive bioeconomy products is not widely known among entrepreneurs in cosmetics and pharmacy.

Partners and vision of Bio Base Westland

1. Bio Base Westland could set up an entrepreneurs platform to involve more entrepreneurs in the bioeconomy;

2. Bio Base Westland could put efforts in promoting the potential of horticultural products as a base for competitive bioeconomy products among entrepreneurs;

3. Bio Base Westland operates in a region with other active parties in developing the bioeconomy, like Biobased Delta South-Holland. Synergy effects could arise from cooperation.

Name: Gemeente Westland


T + 31 (0)174 672315

www.biobasewestland.nl


Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Delft and Westland compared to Netherlands

Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Delft and Westland compared to Netherlands

9. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Biobased Delta (the Netherlands)

Author: Peter Bijkerk


Start and aim

Biobased Delta was set up as an informal collaboration of the provinces of Zeeland and North Brabant in 2010; the province of South Holland joined in 2014.

Cluster Board

Biobased Delta, which is mainly financed by provincial funds, has a board and a director. Biobased Delta is both a bioeconomy cluster and a broker that connects small and large actors. Moreover, Biobased Delta provides focus to the bioeconomy activities in the region by organizing the common agenda ‘Agro meets Chemistry’.


The three provinces covered by Biobased Delta combine a strong agricultural sector, a large and innovative agro-food industry, a large chemical industry and extensive well-developed infrastructure, including deep see harbours. Given these favourable conditions, new bioeconomy and biobased activities do and will emerge in the region. However, the support and steering from the Biobased Delta platform enhances concerted actions in the triple helix that are needed to establish a biobased economy in the region at a large scale. The entrepreneurial climate is enhanced by the focus of Biobased Delta on the following five pillars: Business Development, Human Capital and Education, Infrastructure (including top locations, incubators and application centers for SMEs), Policy & Promotions and Funding (subsidies, venture capital).

Funding

Financing originates from regional, national and EU public funds.


bioeconomy cluster



• relatively little initiative from the traditional, fossil-based, chemical industry, amongst others due to the fact that biobased products have to compete with fossil-based products;

• no level playing field for the use of biomass for biobased products versus the use in energy production (SDE subsidies for sustainable energy; no subsidy for sustainable chemicals or materials);

• there is insufficient woody biomass in the region for large scale lignocellulose biorefinery activities, but the availability of deep sea harbours compensates for that.

• strengthen the role of Biobased Delta as platform that provides focus to the bioeconomy activities in the region;

• strengthen the role of Biobased Delta as broker who connects actors at their own request to other actors.

N.V. Economische Impuls Zeeland

Buitenruststraat 225, 4337 ER Middelburg


T + 31 (0)118-724900

www.impulszeeland.nl


Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Biobased Delta compared to Netherlands

Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Biobased Delta compared to Netherlands

10. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain)

Authors: David Arbelo and Dolores Julián Artero


Start and aim

In 2007, Madrid Regional Government promoted the incorporation of eleven cluster associations for those economic sectors identified as strategic for the Region. The aim of the clusters is to improve competitiveness of the economy of Madrid. The Biotechnology Cluster and the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Cluster are closely related to the bioeconomy. From the start of the clusters, all significant regional agents such as policymakers, knowledge providers, technology generators and entrepreneurs have been involved in the day-to-day activities.

Cluster Board

Cluster structure and governance are designed with an open and collaborative philosophy. Representatives from all regional agents are included in the boards.


Entrepreneurial activity in Madrid Region is well above Spanish national average. Services and technology represent the most dynamic sectors. Due to the top-down driven nature of the clusters, coordination among different innovation agents has been slow and differences in culture still hamper collaboration of R&D actors and entrepreneurs. However, the existence of a Science Park in the Biotechnology Cluster, has demonstrated that proximity of firms encourages mutual cooperation.

Funding

The clusters respond actively to items on the regional political agenda, such as tax incentives for companies with R&D activities in bioeconomy, promotion of infrastructures dedicated to R&D in biotechnology, soft credits for start-ups in the biotech and renewable energy sector and incentives to promote domestic use of biomass boilers, as well as to the EU renewable energy policy.


bioeconomy cluster Barriers for the development of the bioeconomy cluster


• bioeconomy clusters were set up as a politically-led top-down initiative. Therefore entrepreneurs and R&D institutes have shown until recently a low sense of ownership of the cluster;


• insufficient public and private funds to support the clusters;

• weak cooperation and lack of trust among firms and R&D institutes.

• increase the capacity of local actors by promoting cooperation and the use of network tools;

• encourage local actors to assess their situation in a broader local and global context;

• promote the use of common infrastructures to build trust through

engagement among firms and R&D institutes.


Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Comunidad de Madrid compared to Spain

Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Comunidad de Madrid compared to Spain

Name: Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid

C/Faraday 7, campus Cantoblanco Madrid 28049


T + 34 911 169 946

www.fpcm.es

11. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Western Macedonia (Greece)

Authors: N. Ntavos (RWM); E. Karampinis, C. Ketikidis and P. Grammelis (CERTH/CPERI)


Start and aim

The bioeconomy cluster Bioenergy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE) was established in 2014 as a non-profit company by 21 Triple Helix members from the public sector, R&D institutes and the private sector. It builds upon an informal collaboration of regional players in projects on bioenergy. The focus of the cluster is on R&D and energy. It is foreseen that in 2016 its members will increase to 40, mainly with the addition of SMEs.

Cluster Board

The board of directors of CluBE consists from all three Triple Helix members and the President of the board is the representative of the Regional Authority.


The cluster mainly aims to mobilise more actors in the wider area and hopes to change the dominating mentality of a lack of cooperation among stakeholders. This little receptive environment arises as:

• the private sector lacks an innovation culture;

• trust and cooperation between business and academia beyond EU/national funded projects is lacking;

• political commitment to the cluster is rather poor;

• relevant legislation is rather incomplete;

• policymakers do not show the will and/or knowledge for pooling different policies;

• mutual collaboration and information regarding supply and demand of biomass resources is missing.

Funding

Financing of the activities of CluBE for the first period of operation after its establishment mainly depends on EU project funding and not yet on members’ fees, which is foreseen for a later stage.

Cluster initiatives are also expected to be funded regionally under RIS3 strategy and other regional programmes.


bioeconomy cluster




• lack of an innovation culture among entrepreneurs;

• lack of cooperation and trust among firms and R&D institutes;

• lack of political commitment;

• difficulties in the supply of biomass resources, such as varying quality and the collection of the supply from a large number of suppliers;

• lack of funding.

Concerns

CluBE and the other bioeconomy clusters that might occur in Western Macedonia are and will be launched in a country where actors seem not to have a cluster mentality. However, the Region holds a slightly different mentality and fosters some cooperation initiatives (cooperatives, other clusters, etc.). So for any further development of CluBE, efforts on bridging the gap between science, entrepreneurship and public sector are needed.

Recommendations

In case CluBE or other bioeconomy clusters in Western Macedonia might decide to continue with their further development, then it could be recommended to:

• increase the capacity of local actors by learning them to cooperate, to use networks, and to assess their situation in the broader local and global context.


Regional Development Fund of W. M.

ZEP Area, GR 501 00 Kozani, Greece

Contact: D. Aslanidou, [email protected]

N. Ntavos, [email protected]

T + 30 2461053992

http://pta.pdm.gr/pdm/

CERTH/CPERI

4th km. Ptolemais – Mpodosakeio Hospital P.O. Box 95, GR 502 00 Ptolemais, Greece Contact: E. Karampinis, [email protected] C. Ketikidis, [email protected] T +30 24630 55300

http://www.cperi.certh.gr/

HELLENIC REPUBLIC

REGION OF WESTERN MACEDONIA

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Western Macedonia compared to Greece

Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Western Macedonia compared to Greece

12. Towards a bioeconomy cluster in Osrednjeslovenska (Slovenia)

Authors: Luka Juvančič, Romana Marinšek Logar and Peter Dovč


Important to note:

1. Despite its potentials (see bioeconomy readiness wheel, right), the bioeconomy is not (yet) mainstreamed as a policy priority in Slovenia;

2. Although no bioclusters in a strict sense exist in Slovenia, a number of business clusters are operating, not within strict regional boundaries;

3. Osrednjeslovenska is the country‘s leading region (network of R&D institutions, human resource base, corporate sector), where bioeconomy-related objectives are embedded in regional development priorities.

Background and aim

The case of the PoliMat Center of Excellence is indicative for discussing the potentials of bioeconomy clusters in Slovenia, both regionally and nationally.

CE PoliMat was established in 2009, following a successful bid for EU funding (ERDF). Its mission is to transform research excellence in polymer technology (in particular bio-polymers) into products and services in high-tech niche markets. CE PoliMat gathers the leading national teams from four public research institutions, and sixteen private firms, including the leading firms in the chemicals & polymers sector.

Management of the Cluster

The management consists of triple helix members (university-industry-government), with a marked leadership of prominent research institutions (NIC and IJS).


A number of active research actors within PoliMat were able to attract attention in R&D circles on world scale with their technology-driven innovations. However, the R&D institutes did not manage to establish a successful cooperation with firms. On the whole, the weak sense of ownership of the corporate cluster members resulted in a limited participation and weak cooperation within the cluster. Moreover, the small scale of most firms and the lack of well-trained human resources hamper the uptake of innovations.

Funding

The cluster activities were supported almost exclusively from EU project funding. In absence of leverage funding of R&D activities from private sources, spin-off activities of the cluster remained in the inception stage. With

the end of EU financing in 2014, the activities of CE PoliMat terminated. The

cross-regional networking platform Poly4EMI attempts to extend the scope of cooperation in (bio-)polymer technology between different stakeholders over different regions and value chains.


bioeconomy cluster



• a weak sense of ownership of the clusters;

• a lack of active participation of entrepreneurs in the cluster;

• a lack of cooperation among firms and R&D institutes: technology-driven innovations among researchers on the one side and lack of an innovation culture among entrepreneurs on the other;

• absence of a long term political commitment towards the development of the bioeconomy clusters;

• absence of long-term and consistent (both public and private) funding arrangements.

• increase the capacity of local actors by learning them to cooperate, to use networks, and to assess their situation in the broader local and global context;

• use the CE PoliMat results and experience as a base for continuing cluster activities in a broader geographical scope and with institutionally balanced and diversified (particularly private) financial arrangements.

University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical faculty

Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana


T + 386 (0)1 32 03 925

www.bf.uni-lj.si


Photo: www.polimat.si

Figure 1 Bioeconomy readiness for Osrednjeslovenska compared to Slovenia

Figure 2 Employment structure (%) in Osrednjeslovenska compared to Slovenia

13. BERST: recommendations for further research on bioeconomy clusters in EU regions

Author: Myrna van Leeuwen, coordinator BERST team

Main results of BERST (www.berst.eu/)

1. Insight in enabling factors and barriers of bioeconomy clusters in

EU regions;

2. Identification and collection of quantitative indicators for analysing

the regional bioeconomy in the EU;

3. A Network of Bioregions with approx. 200 members for exploring

and sharing experiences on the development of regional

bioeconomies in the EU;

4. Recommendations for the further development of the bioeconomy

cluster in the seven BERST regions.

Main gaps identified in BERST

3. Recommendations for regional strategies to enhance

further development of the bioeconomy cluster

1. Recommendations for further analyses of the

development path of bioeconomy clusters

1. Insufficient insight in processes how to remove barriers for a

successful development of bioeconomy clusters;

2. Due to lack of data, the number of quantitative indicators to

capture the development of the regional bioeconomy in the EU is

rather limited, while some other indicators appear to be poor

proxies of the bioeconomy.

• More in-depth analyses of the development path of the bioeconomy

cluster during the various stages, especially of how actors

overcome barriers;

• Extension of the research to more Good Practice regions;

• Extension of the research to more EU regions which are in a less

mature stage of the development of their bioeconomy cluster.

Name: LEI Wageningen UR P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS The Hague Contact: [email protected] T + 31 (0)70 33 58 141 www.wageningenUR.nl


BERST team

2. Recommendations for improvement of data collection

to capture the development of the regional bioeconomy

• Extension of the BERST regional database to more EU regions;

• Collection of data at NUTS3 level for bioeconomy infrastructure and

R&D;

• Design of indicators for biomass availability, employment in

bioeconomy activities and cluster size, and collection of data for

these indicators

• Integration of BERST regional database in BISO database.

• Testing and use of BERST toolkit in more EU regions;

• Design of good practices how to improve the entrepreneurial

climate around bioeconomy clusters;

• Follow-up of the meetings of the Network of Bioregions;

• Embedding of the BERST toolkit with BIDO, SCR, ERRIN and CoR

platforms;

• Connect BERST results to RIS3 activities.

BERST recommendations


1. Introduction to the FP7 project BERST (BioEconomy ... posters...1. Introduction to the FP7...

Documents

Transcript of 1. Introduction to the FP7 project BERST (BioEconomy ... posters...1. Introduction to the FP7...